I spent three days last week at my annual funeral professional/death care professional golf event that I have attended almost every year since first being invited in 1991. From my count, there are about 130-144 invited guests that enjoy three days with each other in an atmosphere of fellowship and friendship. Most of the talk…
At the close of business Monday, May 7, Park Lawn Corporation announced that it had completed its announced purchase of Signature Funeral and Cemetery Investments, LLC (the Signature Group) for approximately US$123 million. You can read the press release from Stockhouse here. According to Park Lawn CEO Andrew Clark, “With the acquisition of Signature Group,…
When looking at today’s column I noticed that there was a lot of small tid-bits in the news about funeral service and I decided to give you readers the option of reading what you wanted to instead of having me dictate one article to you. Here are four articles that I have commented on briefly…
In a release from A.M. Best that you can read here the company has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) and the Long-Term Credit Ratings (ICR) of the life and health subsidiaries of Assurant, Inc. The FSR rating was affirmed at A- (Excellent) and the ICR rating was a-. The company’s outlook was listed as…
Adams County Coroner James Keller has came up with a controversial policy concerning the payments for indigent services in his county. You can read about the situation from NBCChicago.com here. The story relates how Coroner Keller has the family sign over the rights for the deceased to his office. He then cremates the deceased and…
BUSINESS
Knowing the value of the “Front-Line” worker
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve had the opportunity to visit with many from the “Death Care” or “Funeral” industry. Those discussions made me realize that our profession has came a long…
Banks report “Weaker loan demand”, Consumers pull back on credit: What does that mean for your funeral home?
During this week I read two articles and when I did I wondered how the subject of each might affect funeral homes and the funeral business going forward. The articles included this one…
The “Tom Johnson Memorial Classic” raises over $150k in three days
Last week I again had the privilige to attend what is now known as the “Tom Johnson Memorial Classic“. The “Classic” is part golf, part Death Care, but is really all about “Relationship…
FINANCE
SCI settles California issue, looks forward to moving ahead with insurance funded preneed there
Earlier in May the Attorney General of the State of California issued a press release which you can read here announcing an agreement with Service Corporation International (SCI) over an eight-year dispute on…
Park Lawn enters 2024 “Leaner” and more reliant on the “Funeral side”
Park Lawn Corporation revealed their 1st Quarter of 2024 financials last week and you can access them here. The 1st Quarter of 2024 marks the first quarter of operations for the company coming…
Matthews works through “flat-market” quarter
Editor’s Note: This was our feature article for last Friday morning. However, for some reason still unknown to us, the server we contract to support our website was down for a few hours early…
REGULATIONS
SCI settles California issue, looks forward to moving ahead with insurance funded preneed there
Earlier in May the Attorney General of the State of California issued a press release which you can read here announcing an agreement with Service Corporation International (SCI) over an eight-year dispute on…
Federal Trade Commission bans “Non-Compete” agreements
“This rule affects every segment of the American economy and in a simple 3-2 vote destroys billions of dollars in value that employers have spent in compensation for a covenant not to compete”. …
Dignity, care, and respect. . . bringing the fallen home
On Saturday night I was at a movie, came home and turned the television on to catch the news and learned of the missile bombardment of Israel that Iran took responsibility for. Now,…
CEMETERY
Here’s a unique way to blend land preservation with urn burials
Funeral directing company A.W. Lymn of Nottinghamshire, Great Britain, has been giving the green light to construct an ancient style facility for the disposition of cremated human remains. As this article maintains, “they…
County governments seem to have lots of problems, are human remains another one?
Funeral Director Daily recently learned through this article from Public Media for Central Pennyslvania that Centre County will be building a 160-unit columbarium in Zion, Pennsylvania, to house urns that have went…
America’s military cemeteries face financial backlog for upkeep and improvements
Kansas United States Senator Jerry Moran recently testified at a United States Senate Veterans Affairs Committee meeting that “When mourning a death the last thing a grieving family needs is some bureaucratic hurdle…
CREMATION
Here’s a unique way to blend land preservation with urn burials
Funeral directing company A.W. Lymn of Nottinghamshire, Great Britain, has been giving the green light to construct an ancient style facility for the disposition of cremated human remains. As this article maintains, “they…
Our take: Post-Cremation products are here to stay
One of my friends attended the latest convention of the International Cemetery, Cremation, and Funeral Association (ICCFA) and reported to me that “there were a crazy amount of post-cremation product vendors exhibiting available options”. And,…
Take a cue from Apple. . . Sell more services
Apple has been seeing sales of its iPhone declining. The product, which makes up about 1/2 of the company’s sales, dropped in sales revenue another 10% in the last quarter according to…
PRENEED
SCI settles California issue, looks forward to moving ahead with insurance funded preneed there
Earlier in May the Attorney General of the State of California issued a press release which you can read here announcing an agreement with Service Corporation International (SCI) over an eight-year dispute on…
Banks report “Weaker loan demand”, Consumers pull back on credit: What does that mean for your funeral home?
During this week I read two articles and when I did I wondered how the subject of each might affect funeral homes and the funeral business going forward. The articles included this one…
Take Ring Ring Marketing for a Test Drive
When it comes to technology I am a confessed “Novice”. And personally, with Social Media I am pretty quiet too. . . . or maybe my life is dull enough that none of…
PRODUCTS
Here’s a unique way to blend land preservation with urn burials
Funeral directing company A.W. Lymn of Nottinghamshire, Great Britain, has been giving the green light to construct an ancient style facility for the disposition of cremated human remains. As this article maintains, “they…
Our take: Post-Cremation products are here to stay
One of my friends attended the latest convention of the International Cemetery, Cremation, and Funeral Association (ICCFA) and reported to me that “there were a crazy amount of post-cremation product vendors exhibiting available options”. And,…
Take a cue from Apple. . . Sell more services
Apple has been seeing sales of its iPhone declining. The product, which makes up about 1/2 of the company’s sales, dropped in sales revenue another 10% in the last quarter according to…
